


sweeter than naberrie pie

by nabenrrie



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Elementary School Teacher Ben, F/M, One Shot, Pie Baker Rey, Single Parent Rey, Teacher Ben Solo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-30
Updated: 2020-04-30
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:54:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23928730
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nabenrrie/pseuds/nabenrrie
Summary: A sweet little one-shot
Relationships: Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 45
Kudos: 172





	sweeter than naberrie pie

Ben Solo is a first grade English teacher at Chandrila Elementary School in the affluent city of Chandrila. With his pensive countenance and towering height, you’d be excused if you initially dismissed him as intense or intimidating. But his students know him as their enthusiastic and surprisingly goofy teacher who puts on voices as he acted out the characters from the stories they read and as the only teacher who greeted each of them with a handshake as they entered his classroom on the first day of school.

Rey Johnson works as a waitress at a pie diner called _Plutt’s_ , owned by the bloated and smug Unkar Plutt, to make ends meet for her and her 6-year old daughter Kira. It’s as far from perfect as one could get. Rey hated the antiquated uniforms — _was the pale yellow color a deliberate choice, or a product of time’s natural wear?_ A dreary atmosphere shrouded the place and the paycheck was hardly enough to keep her and Kira afloat.

The daily grind gifted her with one silver lining, however: a chance to spend hours upon hours inventing new pies. As she kneaded dough and filled perfectly baked pie crusts, her mind wandered to a place, a dream enveloped in a haze of flour, where a sweetness filled the air, where people could find their own little slice of heaven on Earth; her own pie shop... only to be snapped back to reality by Unkar’s barking from the greasy kitchen.

One day, she’d leave that diner in the dust.

**~**

Kira’s school was hosting a bake sale. Rey had spent all week trying to convince Unkar to give her that Wednesday afternoon off. At the last moment, he finally granted her permission. If she had had any time, she would have been furious at his spitefulness in agreeing to it at the last minute, but Rey had to rush to her daughter’s school.

In the lush, verdant patio of the school, Rey and Kira displayed an array of pies, placing a card beside each tray with its designated name:

 ** _Jakku Junkyard Pie_** \- About fifteen minutes outside of the charming little bubble of Chandrila stands the pastel green motel known as Takodana Castle. Run by the tough-as-nails Maz in the run-down town of Jakku, this is the place Rey and Kira call home. For the first couple of years, it was not unusual for the two of them to go to bed hungry some nights. One evening, Rey scavenged the compact fridge, threw what she could find in a pie and baked it in their rinky-dink toaster oven. Curated with ingredients that may not sound appetizing when combined, the pie packs a wallop of delicious and savory flavors.

 ** _I Know All About Waiting Pie_** \- A green tea cheesecake embellished with tuanulberries. Rey slaves away in the kitchen, patiently crafting the smoothest, richest and creamiest cake that takes practically a full day to make. Kira often planted herself in front of the warm glow of the oven, watching it bake through the glass. The waiting would be worth it in the end, Rey hoped.

 ** _Chandrila’s Bliss Pie_** \- A cream pie designed with intricate blue-green swirls and topped with peaks of fluffy whipped cream — an ode to Chandrila’s calming lakes and rolling hills.

 ** _Sweet as Naberrie Pie_** \- The ripest naberries married with sugar and the zest of a lemon and baked into a perfectly flaky pie crust. 

Rey was in the midst of thwarting an attack on the whipped cream of _Chandrila’s Bliss Pie_ by Kira’s little finger when she felt someone approach her from behind.

” _Mr. Solo!_ ” Kira’s high-pitched voice excitedly called out.

Rey twirled around, her eyes meeting Mr. Solo's chest. _Was he always this tall?_ she wondered. 

“ _Mr. Solo, hi!_ ” Rey blurted out, nervously. She tried subtly brushing away flecks of flour she felt lingering in the dark wisps of hair that framed her freckled face. Rey couldn’t fathom what had made her so anxious all of the sudden. It was not as if their first encounter had marked much of an impression.

Rey had very briefly met him in a flash on the first day of school a couple of weeks earlier — if you could even call it a meeting. There were no words exchanged between them. Rey had to hurry back to _Plutt’s_ after a swift goodbye kiss on Kira’s forehead as Ben stood at the threshold of the classroom, barely able to get a “ _hello_ ” out.

Perhaps it was the stories Kira would tell about her English teacher that made Rey feel as if she knew him better than she did. One evening, as Kira scribbled haphazardly on a mathematics worksheet with Rey by her side, Kira recounted her day at school:

“ _Today, Mr. Solo read us a book called Corduroy about a toy bear in a big store a-and there was a little girl who wanted to buy him, but her mommy said that the bear looked old because he was missing a button, so Corduroy tried to get another button, but he couldn’t because a security man put him back._ ” Kira chattered a mile a minute, with very little pauses between her words.

“ _Oh no_ ,” Rey emphasized. “ _So, what happened_?” With the tip of her finger, she pointed to the blank line where Kira was to write the answer to a math problem.

Kira continued. “ _The little girl came back to the store and said that her mommy told her she could bring him home, so she bringed him home... and the little girl said she liked him just the way he is, but she still wanted to give him another button be-because she wanted him to be more comfortable.”_

 _“That’s very nice of the little girl,”_ Rey remarked.

“ _Yeah. And Corduroy said that he always wanted a friend and the little girl said she always wanted a friend, too. Mr. Solo said it was his favorite book when he was a kid because he felt like Corduroy. I kinda feel like Corduroy, too._ ”

At this, Rey’s gaze fell on Kira’s little face. “ _You feel like Corduroy, honey?_ ” 

“ _Sometimes... when everyone is playing at recess and no one wants to play with me_... _but Mr. Solo said that whenever you feel alone, remember that someone out there loves you, like how the little girl loved Corduroy.”_

 _“He said that to you?”_ Rey was touched by Mr. Solo’s act of generosity. A deep admiration for him warmed her heart. 

_“Yup. He also said that you are my friend. Are you my friend, mommy?"_ Kira looked up to her mother with her Bambi eyes.

Rey cupped Kira’s face in her hands. _"Of course I am, honey. I’m your Corduroy._ ” She planted a soft kiss on her head, breathing in the scent of lavender shampoo.

" _Corduroy is my favorite book,_ ” Kira declared, her eyes fixed on her paper as she scrawled away. 

Ben dismissed the formality with a wave of his hand. “ _Please, call me Ben,”_ he insisted _._ Rey’s small hand was engulfed by his large one as they greeted each other, their hands lingering in the grasp well after the shake was over.

“ _I’m Rey_ ,” she introduced herself. “ _I know we didn’t get much of a chance to talk last time._ ” 

“ _Yeah, well... the first day of school can be hectic._ _It’s nice to see you again_.” Ben smiled with more than just his lips, Rey noticed. His hazel eyes seemed to beam at her.

Kira leapt to her feet and over to her teacher. _“Mr. Solo, would you like to try one of my mom’s pies?_ ”

Ben leaned down to Kira. “ _Oh, yeah._ _These look great.”_ Looking toward Rey, he pointed to the collection of pies. _“May I?_ ”

“ _Oh, yes._ ” Rey grabbed a pie server. “ _Which one would you like?_ ”

Ben’s eyes swept over the table, falling on a pie that oozed a gooey deep purple filling through its delicately woven crust. “ _How about this one?_ ”

Rey handed him a slice of _Sweet as Naberrie Pie_ — a favorite among the diner regulars — on a napkin that had _Plutt’s_ written across it in red. Unkar would accuse her of stealing the diner’s inventory tomorrow morning.

Ben bit into the warm slice. A piece of crust flaked onto his sweater, but he popped it in his mouth with a flourish. Ben chuckled timidly as he chewed, surely embarrassed by the pair of eyes intently watching him. The flavors washed over him as his shoulders and face relaxed. A wistful look blanketed his eyes.

“ _When I was kid, I used to pick naberries with my grandmother in the summertime._ ” The tender memory transported him to another time, another place. “ _That’s delicious,”_ he remarked as he chewed the last bite _. “Kira, your mother is an exceptional pie baker.”_

Rey smiled sweetly... _maybe even sweeter than the pie_ , Ben thought.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you very much for reading. I greatly appreciate it. 🤍
> 
> — Gabby


End file.
